Almost Gay Encounters

"How do you ease yourself?" An older man once asked me in a hotel lobby. A strange thing to ask a teenager. Later, on the Thames, Douglas (a celebrated artistic failure), drunk-kissed me on the lips. He was sweeter than the girl, I came aboard with. The skinny lodger upstairs dropped his pants in front of me. He was just lonely. "How do you ease yourself?" Asks the cold wind of autumn. I walk, I write, I whistle like a kettle sometimes.